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When I think of Japan, the last thing that comes to mind is the blues.



The Blues Blog is part of Tokyo-Blues.com, which is a site about the blues scene in Japan. While the main part of the site is full of loads of information ranging from interviews from BB King and Dr. John, to concert tours, the blog is updated regularly about any news related to blues.

Launched in January of 2003, The Blues Blog is still new to the blogging world. But from reading up to today’s post, it looks like it has a promising future. Les, who runs the site keeps his readers informed about upcoming gigs around the country of Japan, links to articles relevant to the blues music scene and new album releases by noteworthy artists.

Visually, the layout of the blog is a standard Blogger template. I think the structure of the posts could be improved a bit. They seemed a bit messy, but that could be easily fixed by doing a bit of organizing. Apart from that the writing is fairly easy to read and not too wordy at all, which is a plus.

What makes this blog stand out from the thousands of other blogs out there is it has a completely different topic and is informative for a subject many may not be aware of. I think this is good site and also a unique one, which is often hard to find. Once in a while you find them and it’s quite a refreshing read.
BluesBlog

Created on January 1st 2003, BluesBlog narrowly escapes the ‘no more than 2.0’ “evil” rule. Perhaps because of its young age, BluesBlog looks somewhat amateurish with it’s simple design and lack of organization. But all is not lost. Far from that.

As the blog title suggests, BluesBlog deals with the Blues genre. A little reading shows that the blog is frequently more concerned with the music scene around Tokyo, Japan, with updates and reviews of gigs aplenty. I find this refreshing and interesting: Instead of reviewing albums, blog owner Les actually visits local performances and reports on them. Also, music fans around Les’ area would benefit a lot by visiting BluesBlog, as there are often pre-announced performance dates.

I feel that as a blog under the ‘Music’ category, BluesBlog has all the ingredients and potential to become an important Blues website with authority. But first, some work has to be done. For starters, I think it would improve the site immensely if Les could separate Blues news, upcoming gigs, performance reviews and personal ramblings. Readers would benefit by finding music information they are seeking easier, instead of having to sift through details about Les’ daily life. Vice versa for readers more interested about Les the person. Seeing that Les has won some awards and is even the 1st Asian Blues Hall of Fame Ambassador, I believe this style of organization will lend a professional feel to the site.

As mentioned earlier, BluesBlog has all the right things to make it an influential and important site for one often overlooked music genre, if worked on. Perhaps with time it will be so.

BluesBlog

I am rather impressed by the level of commitment that the author, Les Coles, has shown towards the Blues’ music scene. The blog, http://www.tokyo-blues.com/bloglog.html, is a journal used mainly to record the days spent maintaining a website completely devoted to blues music, http://www.tokyo-blues.com. There would also be the occasional musing and how-the-author’s-day-went entries.

This blog is rather new (started off on 21 January 2003) and I noticed that the entries in the blog have generally gotten longer and more detailed. Which is good. Les does have a certain way of starting her entries. She always begins with a “Woke up this/yesterday morning…” or something along that line. Because according to Les, “if it’s a good way to start a blues song, it’s a good way to start a blues blog”. I find the headings rather refreshing because they go along with the theme, and they also add a minute but personal insight into the author’s life without clouding over the main focus of the blog.

The design of the site is functional and well organised. However, the ‘archives’ content page could probably do better than just a black and white format which totally clashes with the rest of the pages. The layout is most likely a template so maybe some elements could be added in, to connect the content with the layout.

This site also lacks an ‘about me’ section, so very little is known about the author. Perhaps the main intention of leaving out the ‘about me’ page, is for the reader to concentrate on the content of the blog rather than the author. Well, if that was the case, then I guess I did concentrate on the content a little bit better but it just made me even more curious to find out the identity of the author. So perhaps a little information on the creator of the page might do better than total deprivation.

If you are not a blues fan, you would probably not understand what Les is writing about, because the main drawing point of this blog is that it functions mainly as a information portal on the blues and its music scene in Tokyo, Japan. So unless you are situated in Japan and interested in the blues also, this blog would probably not interest you very much.
BluesBlog

Stinky Shorts – an interesting, but appropriate name, for this site which ridicules the absurdity of the things people do and say everyday. The site is accompanied by the byline “Not smartie, not pants. Just doing the best we can”, a cute play on words which ties in well with the title of the site. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the rather common design of Stinky Shorts, although it would get high marks for simplicity. I’m a fan of simple and easily navigable blogs, and Stinky Shorts certainly meets this criteria. Nevertheless, I would have liked to have seen something beyond a standard template.

Rob, the “proprietor/perpetrator” of Stinky Shorts, is a welcome change to the previous news/links sites which I have reviewed, many filled with links but lacking in commentary. The majority of his entries do have a comment or casual remark, something I find key in these types of blogs. One thing I liked about Stinky Shorts is how the author blends his commentary with his links. When you read his blog, it’s almost as if you are speaking to Rob himself, and the occasional link is a way of saying “Wait a second, let me learn a little more about what you just said”.

Rob’s links cover a wide range of topics, from links to considerably strange news stories to pointers to widely known events, such as the current Iraq situation. I learned several new, atlhough probably completely useless, things after reading Stinky Shorts. Did you know that there is an invisible condom in development?

I have one bone to pick with Stinky Shorts, although it is a minor one. I believe that external links should almost always open in a new window, as this is beneficial for both the blogger and the reader. Having external links open in the same window draws readers away from the blog. It’s easier to take a break from Rob’s commentary to visit one of his links and then switch windows to explore some more of his site.

Should you visit Stinky Shorts? If you’re looking for a good laugh, then yes. As is common with these types of blogs, you will have to search through the entries to find a story that tickles your funny bone. Nevertheless, I am sure that Stinky Shorts will offer you something to talk about over the water cooler.

Stinky Shorts

Occam’s Razor – it’s a weblog “chronicling the strange life and weird observations of Mark D. Hammill, software engineer, civil servant and political pundit”. It makes my job as a reviewer easy when the author is so up front about the description of his or her weblog. It’s even better when it’s an accurate description, and Mark’s is right on the nose.

Quick learning lesson on Occam’s Razor – it’s a philosophical principle that dates years and years back. The principle states that one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed. If you read through this entire weblog like I did, you’ll find that is nearly Mark’s exact life philosophy.

In Mark’s first post, he’s very straight forward about what readers can look for in this weblog: “the dictotomy of my observations compared to the way things really work gives me plenty of things to post here to the world. I doubt you will be bored.” And again, he’s hit it right on the nose. You’re not bored with this weblog at any point in time.

Occam’s Razor hit the ‘net in December 2002, so I would still consider this a fairly new weblog. With the types of entries that Mark throws out there, though, there’s sure to be a following of some sort in the building up stages. This isn’t a weblog for an audience consisting of high school kids writing about their Home Economics grade, but a weblog geared towards those who want to think about the things they read and can keep an open mind about opinions being shared.

The majority of the entries Mark makes are on the longer side. The words he uses, and the way he strings sentences together, though, make each entry read like a very short chapter in a series of a never-ending book. And in this case, that’s a very good thing.

The design of the site is very simple. I don’t love it, but I can’t hate it either. It’s impossible to hate, because Mark happens to use the font that I’m currently obsessed with – Georgia. That particular font makes everything look so nice and delicate, and so do the calm colors that are used for the layout. At the bottom of each entry, there’s a form giving the reader an option to email the entire post to anyone you want. I haven’t seen anything quite like this on a weblog before, and it’s definitely a nice addition!

If you visit this site, which I would recommend doing so, be prepared for the regular political jab at the Republican Party. And also be prepared for the occasional entertaining lesson in parenting teenage girl. Mark does a great way of relaying his stories, no matter what topic he’s addressing, to the world with this weblog and gives readers the want to continue coming back.

Occam’s Razor